Traffic management for base stations backhauled over data-capped network connections

ABSTRACT

A method includes receiving a connection request from a mobile device at a network device to allow connection of the mobile device to a core network of the first service provider through a first base station and determining whether a backhaul connection between the core network of the first service provider and the first base station is congested by the network device. The backhaul connection is determined to be congested when L is greater than (D−B)/T. When the first backhaul connection is determined to be congested, the method also includes preventing the first base station from connecting the mobile device to the core network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This U.S. patent application is a continuation of, and claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. §120 from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/604,741,filed on Sep. 6, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to managing traffic handled by base stationsbackhauled over data-capped network connections.

BACKGROUND

Deploying small-cell (e.g., femtocell) base stations in homes andbusinesses may present challenges not faced in the deployment ofmacro-cell base stations. Further limitations and disadvantages ofconventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one ofskill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with some isaspects of the present method and apparatus set forth in the remainderof this disclosure with reference to the drawings.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure provides a method for traffic managementfor base stations backhauled over data-capped network connections. Themethod includes receiving, at a network device, a connection requestfrom a mobile device to allow connection of the mobile device to a corenetwork of a first service provider through a first base station anddetermining, by the network device, whether a first backhaul connectionbetween the core network of the first service provider and the firstbase station is congested. The first backhaul connection is determinedto be congested when L₁ is greater than (D₁−B₁)/T₁. L₁ is a traffic loadon the first backhaul connection communicated by a second serviceprovider providing at least two services. D₁ is a periodic data capimposed by the second service provider on the first backhaul connection.B₁ is a total amount of data consumed by a selected one of the at leasttwo services provided by the second service provider over the firstbackhaul connection during a current time period. T₁ is an amount oftime remaining in the current time period, measured in units of time.When the network device determines the first backhaul connection iscongested, the method includes preventing, by the network device, thefirst base station from connecting the mobile device to the corenetwork.

Implementations of the disclosure may include one or more of thefollowing optional features. In some implementations, the traffic loadon the first backhaul connection includes an instantaneous traffic loadon the first backhaul connection. The traffic load on the first backhaulconnection may further include an average traffic load on the firstbackhaul connection during the current time period. The traffic load onthe first backhaul connection may even further include an averagetraffic load on the first backhaul connection during one or moreprevious time periods.

When determining whether the first backhaul connection is congested, themethod may further include accounting, by the network device, forbackhaul data of the first base station and data communication betweennon-base station devices. The first base station may be installed in abuilding and the first backhaul connection may provide Internet accessto the building. The method may further include, when preventing thefirst base station from connecting the mobile device to the core networkpermitting, by the network device, a second base station to connect themobile device to the core network. Additionally, or alternatively, themethod may include, prior to permitting the second base station toconnect the mobile device to the core network, determining, by thenetwork device, that a second backhaul connection between the corenetwork of the first service provider and the second base station is notcongested.

In some examples, the second backhaul connection is determined to not becongested when L₂ is less than or equal to (D₂−B₂)/T₂. L₂ is a trafficload on the second backhaul connection, D₂ is a periodic data cap on thesecond backhaul connection, B₁ is a total amount of data consumed overthe second backhaul connection during the current time period and T₁ isan amount of time remaining in the current time period, measured inunits of time. The second backhaul connection may be determined to notbe congested when L2 is less than or equal to M×S, where S is a scalingfactor and M is a maximum permitted load on the second backhaulconnection.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a system for trafficmanagement for base stations backhauled over data-capped networkconnections. This aspect may include one or more of the followingoptional features. The system includes one or more network processingdevices executing a base station manager. The base station managerincludes receiving a connection request from a mobile device to allowconnection of the mobile device to a core network of a first serviceprovider through a first base station. The system further includesdetermining whether the first backhaul connection between the corenetwork of the first service provider and the first base station iscongested. The first backhaul connection is determined to be congestedwhen L₁ is greater than (D₁−B₁)/T₁. L₁ is a traffic load on the firstbackhaul connection communicated by a second service provider providingat least two services. D₁ is a periodic data cap imposed by the secondservice provider on the first backhaul connection. B₁ is a total amountof data consumed by a selected one of the at least two services providedby the second provider over the first backhaul connection during acurrent time period. T₁ is an amount of time remaining in the currenttime period, measured in units of time. When the base station managerdetermines the first backhaul connection is congested, the base stationmanager prevents the first base station from connecting the mobiledevice to the core network.

In some implementations, the traffic load on the first backhaulconnection includes an instantaneous traffic load on the first backhaulconnection. The traffic load on the first backhaul connection mayinclude an average traffic load on the first backhaul connection duringthe current time period. The traffic load on the first backhaulconnection may further include an average traffic toad on the firstbackhaul connection during one or more previous time periods.

The base station manager, at the one or more network processing devices,may account for backhaul data of the first base station and datacommunicated between non-base station devices when determining whetherthe first backhaul connection is congested. The first base station maybe installed in a building and the first backhaul connection may provideInternet access to the building. At the one or more network processingdevices, the base station manager may permit a second base station toconnect the mobile device to the core network when the base stationmanager prevents the first base station from connecting the mobiledevice to the core network. Additionally or alternatively, at the one ormore network processing devices, the base station manager may determinethat a second backhaul connection between the core network of the firstservice provider and the second base station is not congested.

In some examples, the second backhaul connection is determined to not becongested when L₂ is less than or equal to (D₂−B₂)/T₂. L₂ is a trafficload on the second backhaul connection, D₂ is a periodic data cap on thesecond backhaul connection, B₁ is a total amount of data consumed overthe second backhaul connection during the current time period and T₁ isan amount of time remaining in the current time period, measured inunits of time. The second backhaul connection may be determined to notbe congested when L₂ is less than or equal to M×S, where S is a scalingfactor and M is a maximum permitted load on the second backhaulconnection.

Yet another aspect of the disclosure provides a second method fortraffic management for base stations backhauled over data-capped networkconnections. The method includes receiving, at a network device, aconnection request from a mobile device to allow connection of themobile device to a core network of a first service provider through afirst base station. The method may further include determining, by thenetwork device, whether a first backhaul connection between the corenetwork of the first service provider and the first base station iscongested. The first backhaul connection is determined to be congestedwhen L₁ is greater than M×S, where S is a scaling factor and M is amaximum permitted load on the first backhaul connection. When thenetwork device determines the first backhaul connection is congested,the method includes preventing, by the network device, the first basestation from connecting the mobile device to the core network.

The details of one or more implementations of the disclosure are setforth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Otheraspects, features, and advantages will be apparent from the descriptionand drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a schematic view of an example network including a pluralityof small-cell base stations backhauled over data-capped networkconnections.

FIG. 1B is a schematic view of an example network including a pluralityof small-cell base stations.

FIG. 1C is a schematic view of an example base station manager.

FIG. 1D is a schematic view of an example data structure utilized formanaging a small-cell network to mitigate congestion of backhaulconnections.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic views of example cell boundaryreconfigured in response to a backhaul connection becoming congested.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic views of example configurations ofparameter values to mitigate congestion in a small cell network.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example method for managing a network ofsmall-cell base stations to mitigate the impact of congestion onbackhaul connections.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As utilized herein the terms “circuits” and “circuitry” refer tophysical electronic components (i.e. hardware) and any software and/orfirmware (“code”) which may configure the hardware, be executed by thehardware, and or otherwise be associated with the hardware. Hardware mayinclude, for example, one or more processors, ASICs, and/or FPGAs. Asutilized herein, “and/or” means any one or more of the items in the listjoined by “and/or”. As an example, “x and/or y” means any element of thethree-element set {(x), (y), (x, y)}. As another example, “x, y, and/orz” means any element of the seven-element set {(x), (y), (z), (x, y),(x, z), (y, z), (x, y, z)}. As utilized herein, the terms “block” and“module” refer to functions than can be performed by one or morecircuits. As utilized herein, the term “e.g.,” introduce a list of oneor more non-limiting examples, instances, or illustrations.

In some implementations, a network device of a first service providerdetermines that a total amount of data communicated over a backhaulconnection of a base station during a current billing period will exceeda maximum amount of data permitted to be communicated over the backhaulconnection during the current billing period. The maximum amount of datapermitted to be communicated over the network connection may be imposedby a second service provider. The determining may be based on a trafficload on the network connection over the current billing period. Inresponse to a determination that the backhaul connection is congested, avalue of one or more cellular communication parameters utilized by thebase station may be reconfigured.

FIG. 1A shows an example network including a plurality of small-cellbase stations backhauled over data-capped network connections. Thenetwork 100 includes base stations 102 a, 102 b, and 124; andsubnetworks 106 a, 106 b, and 110.

The subnetwork 110 may be a core network of a service provider thatprovides network access to mobile devices. The subnetwork 110 may be,for example, a core network 110 of a cellular service provider. The corenetwork 110 may include various components 112 (e.g., routers, switches,hubs, etc.) for connecting the core network to the access networks 106 aand 106 b and to the base station 124. The core network 110 may includea base station manager 114 which may operate as described herein.

Each of the base stations 102 a and 102 b may be operable to communicatedata between mobile devices (e.g., devices 202 a and 202 b) and arespective one of the subnetworks 106 a and 106 b. In this regard, basestation 202 a may communicate data between mobile device 102 a and thesubnetwork 106 a, and base station 102 b may communicate data betweenmobile device 202 b and subnetwork 106 b. In this regard, each of thebase stations 102 a and 102 b may support any one or more wireless(e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE), wired (e.g., Ethernet, DSL), and/or optical (e.g.,Fiber Channel) protocols. Each of the base stations 102 a and 102 b mayinclude circuitry operable to implement functions of a base stationdescribed herein.

In some implementations, the base stations 102 a and 102 b associatewith the cellular provider that is associated with the core network 110.In this regard, one or more agreements may be in place between theowner(s) of the base stations 102 a and 102 b such that the basestations 102 a and 102 b are permitted to communicate on frequenciesowned/leased by the cellular provider.

The connection 104 a through the subnetwork 106 a may carry backhaultraffic for the base station 102 a. The connection 104 b through thesubnetwork 106 b may cam/backhaul traffic for the base station 102 b.Each of the connections 104 a and 104 b may include one or more wired,wireless, and/or optical network links.

Each of the subnetworks 106 a and 106 b may be an access network of arespective Internet service provider (ISP). Accordingly, each of thebase stations 102 a and 102 b may be associated with a contract betweena subscriber and an ISP that provides one of the access networks 106 aand 106 b). The subnetwork 106 a may be, for example, an access networkof a cable television provider, where the owner and/or lessee of thebase station 102 a has an account with the cable television provider,and the base station 102 a is associated with the contract, thuspermitting the base station 102 a to communicate over the network 106 a.The subnetwork 106 b may be, for example, an access network of an xDSLprovider, where the owner and/or lessee of the base station 102 b has anaccount with the xDSL provider, and the base station 102 b is associatedwith the contract, thus permitting the base station 102 a to communicateover the network 106 a.

In some examples, the cellular provider does not have control, or atleast not sole control, over the access networks 106 a and 106 b. Forexample, the ISPs associated with the access networks 106 a and 106 bmay be separate entities than the cellular provider associated with thecore network 110. Consequently, restrictions, such as periodic data capsand/or maximum traffic toads, imposed on the connections 104 a and 104 bmay be, at least partially, out of the control of the cellular provider.Periodic data caps may be measured in, for example, bits or bytes. Atraffic load may be measured in, for example, bits or bytes per unittime (e.g., megabits per second (Mbps) or megabytes per second (MBps)).A traffic load may be, for example, an instantaneous traffic load at oneor more time instants, an average traffic toad averaged over a timeperiod (e.g., an hour, day, week, month, year, or billing period),and/or an average traffic load broken down by category (e.g., by time ofday, time of week, and/or time of year).

The base station manager 114 may be operable to collect informationabout the backhaul connections 104 a and 104 b and utilize theinformation for managing the respective traffic loads on the basestations 102 a and 102 b. The collected information may be stored in adata structure, such as the one described below with respect to FIG. 1D,which may be part of, and/or accessible by, the base station manager114. Collected information may be, for example, updated continuously,periodically, and/or on an event-driven basis. The base station manager114 may include circuitry which resides in a single device or isdistributed among a plurality of devices. In this regard, although anexample implementation is shown in which the base station manager 114resides entirely in the core network 110, the base station manager 114could reside entirely or partly in any one or more of the base station102 a, the base station 102 b, and the core network 110.

Managing the respective traffic toads on the base stations 102 a and 102b may include reconfiguring a value of one or more parameters utilizedby one or both of the base stations 102 a and 102 b. The parameters mayinclude, for example: transmit power, receive sensitivity, channels toutilize, one or more quality of service (QoS) thresholds above and/orbelow which traffic is to be accepted and/or dropped, identifiers ofpermitted and/or denied traffic flows, whether particular base stationsmay accept inbound handovers, whether particular base stations shouldinitiate outbound handovers, and/or any other parameters useful formanaging the respective traffic loads on the base stations 102 a and 102b.

Additionally or alternatively, managing the respective traffic loads onthe base stations 102 a and 102 b may include communication of networkmanagement messages. Such messages may be communicated, for example,between the base stations 102 a and 102 b, between the base station 102a and the core network 110 (e.g., components 112 and/or the base stationmanager 114), and/or between the base station 102 b and the core network110 (e.g., components 112 and/or the base station manager 114). Thenetwork management messages may be communicated in-band and/orout-of-band with one or both of the connections 104 a and 104 b.

The collected information may include, for example, one or more maximumpermitted traffic loads for the connection 104 a (which may be imposedby the ISP that provides connection 104 a), and/or a one or more maximumpermitted traffic loads for the connection 104 b (which may be imposedby the ISP that provides connection 104 b). For example, the ISP thatprovides connection 104 a may impose a maximum downstream load of 50Mbps, and a maximum upstream load of 10 Mbps.

The collected information may, for example, include a periodic data capimposed on the connection 104 a, and/or a periodic data cap imposed onthe connection 104 b. For example, the ISP that provides connection 104a may impose a monthly data cap of 250 GB and the ISP that providesconnection 104 b may impose a monthly data cap of 300 GB. In someinstances, the periodic data cap and the maximum load of a connectionmay be interrelated, For example, the ISP that provides connection 104 amay impose a maximum of 50 Mbps up to the first 250 GB in a billingcycle and a maximum load of 10 Mbps for amounts in excess of 250 GB in asingle billing cycle.

The collected information may include, for example, a total amount oftraffic communicated over the connection 104 a during one or more timeperiods, and/or a total amount of traffic communicated over theconnection 104 b during one or more time periods. A time period may be,for example, an hour, day, week, month, year, and/or billing period(e.g., the billing period for subscriber's contract with an ISP). Insome instances, the total amount of traffic may include only trafficthat counts towards a subscriber's periodic allotment. For example, theISP that provides connection 104 a may impose a monthly data cap of 250GB, but only DOCSIS data may count toward that allotment white cabletelevision programming may not count toward the 250 GB allotment.

The collected information may include, for example, the one or moretraffic toad values for one or both of the connections 104 a and 104 b.For example, a current instantaneous traffic load and/or an averagetraffic load over a current, in-progress time period may be collectedfor each of the connections 104 a and 104 b.

The base station manager 114 may collect information about theconnections 104 a and/or 104 b through the communication of managementmessages with other network devices (e.g., the base stations 102 a and102 b, devices in the access networks 106 a and 106 b, and/or devices inthe core network 110). For instance, other devices may collectinformation as traffic arrives at and/or traverses them. Such devicesmay communicate such collected information to the base station manager114 on a periodic or event-driven basis (e.g., in response to a requestfrom the base station manager 114). Additionally or alternatively, themanagement messages may include probe messages utilized to measurevarious network information.

In operation, the base stations 102 a and 102 b may communicate data toand/or from mobile devices (e.g., devices 202 a and 202 b) utilizingcellular protocols (e.g., LTE). Such data may be backhauled to and/orfrom the core network 110 via a respective one of network connections104 a and 104 b. Values of one or more parameters utilized by the basestations 102 a and 102 b may be configured by the base station manager114 in order to manage respective traffic loads on the base stations 102a and 102 b. The configuration of the parameters may be based oncollected information about the respective traffic loads on the backhaulconnections 104 a and 104 b.

The collected information may be utilized to determine whether thetraffic load on the connection 104 a and/or the traffic load on theconnection 104 b has exceeded a threshold such as to be considered“congested.” The determination of whether a connection is congested may,for example, be made periodically and/or made occasionally in responseto a triggering event or condition.

A threshold for considering a connection congested may, for example, becalculated as shown below in EQ 1.CT=(D−B)/T  EQ. 1where ‘CT’ is the congestion threshold measured in bits per unit time,‘D’ is the periodic data cap measured in bits, ‘B’ is the total amountof data consumed over the connection during the current time period(measured in bits), and ‘T’ is the amount of time (e.g., measured indays, weeks, biweekly intervals, semi-monthly intervals, and/or months)remaining in the current time period. In such an instance, theconnection may be determined to be congested if the following expressionL>CT?  EQ. 2evaluates to true, where L is a traffic load on the connection.

A connection may, for example, be determined to be congested if thefollowing expression:L>(S)(M)?  EQ. 3evaluates to true, where ‘L’ is a traffic load on the connection, ‘S’ isa scaling factor, and ‘M’ is a maximum permitted load of the connection.

FIG. 1B shows an example network including a plurality of small-cellbase stations. The network 150 shown in FIG. 1B includes the basestations 102 a and 102 b, the connections 104 a and 104 b, thesubnetwork 110, and the base station manager 114. Additionally, networkdevices 152 and 158 and network links 154 and 156 are shown.

The network device 152 may include a non-base station device such as,for example, a laptop or desktop computer that is not configured tofunction as a base station. The device 152 may reside within a premises160 (e.g., a residence, business or public venue) along with the basestation 102 a. The device 152 may include circuitry operable toimplement functions of the network device 152 described herein.

The network device 158 may include a non-base station device such as,for example, a router or network switch that is not configured tofunction as abuse station which may communicate with the base stations102 a and non-base station device 152 via network links 154 and 156respectively. The network device 158 may reside within the premises 160along with the base station 102 a. The network device 158 may includecircuitry operable to implement functions of the network device 158described herein.

The connection 104 a may provide an Internet connection to the premises160. Thus, the connection 104 a may carry data to and/or from both thebase station 102 a and the non-base station device 152. Data to and/orfrom the network device 152 may include, for example, website data, fileuploads, file downloads, and/or any other traffic which a residenceand/or business may communicate to and/or from the Internet. Becausedata to and/or from the base station 102 a shares the connection 104 awith data to and/or from the non-base station device 152, the latter maybe accounted for by the base station manager 114 when collectinginformation about the connection 104 a and/or when determining whetherthe connection 104 a is congested. For example, where the respectivecellular traffic loads on the base stations 102 a and 102 b are roughlyequal, but device 152 is generating a tot of traffic, connection 104 amay be congested whereas connection 104 b is not. Accordingly, the basestation manager 114 may take action to redistribute the existing loads(e.g., through handovers and/or traffic filtering) and/or to balance therespective loads going forward (e.g., encourage or force new connectionsto be established with the base station 102 b rather than the basestation 102, where possible).

In addition to routing/switching/bridging traffic between the connection104 a and the links 154 and 156, the network device 158 may performand/or aid in the collection of information about the connection 104 a.In this regard, the network device 158 may be a component of the basestation manager 114 and/or may exchange network management messages withthe base station manager 114.

FIG. 1C shows example components of an example base station manager 114.In the example shown, the circuitry of the base station manager 114includes a transceiver 116, a CPU 118, and a memory 120. The transceiver116 may be operable to communicate in accordance with one or morecommunications protocols for communicating over wired, wireless, and/oroptical links. The transceiver 116 may, for example, communicateutilizing the Internet protocol suite (including TCP and/or IP). The CPU118 may be operable to effectuate operation of the base station manager114 by executing lines of code stored in the memory 120. Such lines ofcode may include, for example, one or more programs for collecting andanalyzing network information to generate decisions regarding themanagement of network traffic. The memory 120 may include programmemory, run-time memory, and/or mass storage. The memory 120 may, forexample, include non-volatile memory, volatile memory, read only memory(ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, magnetic storage,and/or any other suitable memory. Program memory may store lines of codeexecutable by the CPU 118 to effectuate operation of network managementactions. Runtime memory may store data generated and/or used duringexecution of the network management programs. For example, runtimememory may store values utilized in evaluating, and/or the results ofevaluating, equations 1-3 above. Mass storage may, for example, storedata that becomes too large for efficient storage in runtime memory. Forexample, collected information regarding connections 104 a and 104 b maybe stored in mass storage in a data structure 122 and portions of thatdata may be loaded into runtime memory as needed. An example of the datastructure 122 is described below with reference to FIG. 1D.

FIG. 1D is an example data structure utilized for managing a small-cellnetwork to mitigate congestion of backhaul connections. Each of theentries 190 ₁-190 _(N) (where ‘N’ is an integer and ‘n’ is a valuebetween 1 and ‘N’) in the data structure 122 are associated with aparticular back-haul connection and include current conditions of (e.g.,traffic load) and/or constraints on (e.g., data rate limit and/orperiodic data cap) the particular backhaul connection. In the exampleshown, each entry 190 _(n) includes: a field 172 which stores anidentifier associated with a particular backhaul connection, a field 174which stores the total amount of data consumed over the connectionduring a time period (e.g., the current month or a previous month), afield 176 which stores the periodic data cap imposed on the connection,a field 178 which stores an amount of time left in the time period, afield 180 which stores a traffic load on the connection, and a field 182which stores a maximum load imposed on the connection. Each of thefields in FIG. 1D is populated with arbitrary values to show how thestored values may be utilized to determine whether a connection iscongested.

Table 1 below shows example congestion determinations made utilizingequations 1 and 2 described above.

TABLE 1 Congestion Determination using EQ. 1 Connection CT L Congested?170a 15 MBps 7 MBps NO 170b  5 MBps 7 MBps YES 170c 20 MBps 9 MBps NO170d 20 MBps 10 MBps  NO

Thus, table 1 shows an example scenario in which connection 170 b isdetermined to be congested as a result of the fact that, based on itstraffic load, L, the connection 170 b will exceed its periodic data capfor the time period. The consequences of exceeding the data cap maydepend on policies of the service provider that provides the connection170 c, but such consequences could include, for example, the connection170 c being disabled or a data rate of the connection 170 c beingthrottled down. The loss of connection 170 c would result in a basestation that is backhauled by the connection 170 c being unable toprovide service to mobile devices. This, in turn, could result in a“hole” or “dead zone” in the cellular provider's coverage. Accordingly,the base station manager 114 may take action to attempt to reduce theload on the connection 170 c.

Table 2 below shows example congestion determinations utilizing equation3 described above and a hypothetical scaling factor, S, of 0.8. Thescaling factor may be configured by the cellular provider based, forexample, on performance data (e.g., load variance, traffic latency,dropped packets, etc.). By using a scaling factor 0.8, 20% headroom isreserved for handling transient traffic spikes, for example:

TABLE 2 Congestion Determination using EQ. 3 Connection S × M LCongested? 170a 9.6 MBps 7 MBps NO 170b 9.6 MBps 7 MBps NO 170c 9.6 MBps9 MBps NO 170d 9.6 MBps 10 MBps  YES

Thus, table 2 shows an example scenario in which connection 170 d isdetermined to be congested as a result of the fact that its traffic loadexceeds 80% of its maximum permitted load. Operating with a load aboveS×M could, for example, increase latency and/or the likelihood ofdropped packets, which may negatively impact the experience of mobiledevice users.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show configurations of a cell boundary in response to abackhaul connection becoming congested. In FIG. 2A, there is shown thebase station 102 a, the base station 102 b, a coverage area 204 a of thebase station 102 a, a coverage area 204 b of the base station 102 b, andmobile devices 202 a and 202 b. Each of the mobile devices 202 a and 202b may include circuitry operable to communicate utilizing one or morewireless protocols (e.g., LTE protocols). Each of the mobile devices 202a and 102 b may be, for example, a cellphone, a tablet computer, or alaptop computer.

In FIG. 2A, the base station 102 a is serving mobile device 202 a via awireless connection 210 and serving mobile device 202 b via a wirelessconnection 212. For illustration, assume that connection 104 a (see FIG.1A) to the base station 102 a is congested as a result of the traffic toand/or from the mobile devices 202 a and 202 b and/or other traffic fromnon-base station devices on the connection 104 a. Further assume thatconnection 104 b (see FIG. 1A) to base station 102 b is not congested.The base station manager 114 may detect that the connection 104 a iscongested but that connection 104 b is not. FIG. 2B shows an exampleresponse of the network manager to the detected conditions on theconnections 104 a and 104 b. Specifically, FIG. 2B shows a response inwhich the base station manager 114 reconfigures one or more parametervalues to cause the coverage areas 202 a and 202 b to be altered.

Moving from FIG. 2A to FIG. 2B, the reconfiguring results in the mobiledevice 202 b being handed-over to the base station 102 b such that themobile device 202 b is now serviced via the connection 214 to basestation 102 b. After the handover, traffic to and from the mobile device202 b is backhauled over connection 104 b rather than connection 104 a,thus alleviating the congestion on connection 104 a.

FIG. 3A shows an example configuration of parameter values to mitigatecongestion in a small cell network. In FIG. 3A, there is shown the basestation 102 a and its coverage area 204 a, the base station 102 b andits coverage area 204 b, and mobile devices 202 a-202 e. Each of themobile devices 202 a-202 e may include circuitry operable to communicateutilizing one or more wireless protocols (e.g., LTE protocols). Each ofthe mobile devices 202 a-202 e may be, for example, a cellphone, atablet computer, or a laptop computer.

In FIG. 3A, the base station 102 a is serving mobile device 202 a via awireless connection 310 and base station 102 b is service mobile devices202 b-202 e via connections 314, 316, 318, and 320, respectively. Forexample, assume that connection 104 a (see e.g., FIG. 1A) to the basestation 102 a is congested as a result of the traffic to and/or frommobile device 202 a and other traffic from non-base station devices onthe connection 104 a. Further assume that connection 104 b (see e.g.,FIG. 1A) to base station 102 b is not congested (e.g., becauseconnection 102 b is not carrying a high traffic load from non-basestation devices). The base station manager 114 may detect thatconnection 104 a is congested but that connection 104 b is not. FIG. 3Ashows an example response of the network manager to these detectedconditions. Specifically, FIG. 3A shows a response in which the basestation manager 114 configures one or more parameter values of the basestation 102 a such that association of the mobile device 202 b with thebase station 102 b are prevented (e.g., a request 312 from mobile device202 b may be dropped and/or responded-to with a denial).

Referring to FIG. 3B, assume now that the connection 104 b has becomecongested and the backhaul connection 104 a is no longer congested. Thebase station manager 114 may detect that connection 104 b is congestedhut that connection 104 a is not. FIG. 3B shows an example response ofthe network manager to these detected conditions. Specifically, FIG. 3Bshows a response in which the base station manager 114 configures one ormore parameter values of the base station 102 a such that the basestation 102 a is configured to accept handovers from base station 102 b,and may configure one or more parameters of the base station 102 aand/or 102 b such that handover occurs. For example, a transmit powerutilized for the connection 314 may be reduced such that the mobiledevice 202 b determines that associating with the base station 102 awill provide better performance. In some examples, the parametersassociated with connection 314 are configured without affecting theconnections 316, 318, and 320. For instance, transmit power may only bedecreased for a channel (e.g., frequency, timeslot, and/or CDMA code)associated with the connection 314 while transmit power for channel(s)associated with the connections 316, 318, and 320 may remain the same.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an example method for managing a network ofsmall-cell base stations to mitigate the impact of congestion onbackhaul connections. In step 404, after start step 402, the basestation manager 114 may collect information about one or moreconnections which serve as backhaul connections for one or moresmall-cell base stations. The collected information may include theinformation depicted in FIG. 1D and/or may include other information. Instep 406, the collected information may be utilized to determine whetherone or more of the backhaul connections are congested. The determinationin step 406 may, for example, be made utilizing equations 1, 2, and/or 3described above. If one or more backhaul connections are determined tobe congested, then in step 408, one or more parameter values may beconfigured to, for example, reduce a load on the congested connection,shift traffic from a congested connection to an uncongested connection,and/or prevent the congestion from worsening. Returning to step 406, ifnone of the backhaul connections are congested, the steps may advance tostep 410 and a current configuration of the network may be maintained.

Other implementations may provide anon-transitory computer readablemedium and/or storage medium, and/or a non-transitory machine readablemedium and/or storage medium, having stored thereon, a machine codeand/or a computer program having at least one code section executable bya machine and/or a computer, thereby causing the machine and/or computerto perform the steps as described herein for traffic management for basestations backhauled over data-capped network connections.

Accordingly, the present method and/or apparatus may be realized inhardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Thepresent method and/or apparatus may be realized in a centralized fashionin at least one computing system, or in a distributed fashion wheredifferent elements are spread across several interconnected computingsystems. Any kind of computing system or other apparatus adapted forcarrying out the methods described herein is suited. A typicalcombination of hardware and software may be a general-purpose computingsystem with a program or other code that, when being loaded andexecuted, controls the computing system such that it carries out themethods described herein. Another typical implementation may include anapplication specific integrated circuit or chip.

The present method and/or apparatus may also be embedded in a computerprogram product, which includes all the features enabling theimplementation of the methods described herein, and which when loaded ina computer system is able to carry out these methods. Computer programin the present context means any expression, in any language, code ornotation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having aninformation processing capability to perform a particular functioneither directly or after either or both of the following: a) conversionto another language, code or notation; b) reproduction in a differentmaterial form.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims. Forexample, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in adifferent order and still achieve desirable results.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a networkdevice, a connection request from a mobile device to allow connection ofthe mobile device to a core network of a first service provider througha first base station; determining, by the network device, whether afirst backhaul connection between the core network of the first serviceprovider and the first base station is congested, the first backhaulconnection determined to be congested when L₁is greater than (D₁−B₁)/T₁,where: L₁is a traffic load on the first backhaul connection communicatedby a second service provider providing at least two services; D₁is aperiodic data cap imposed by the second service provider on the firstbackhaul connection; B₁is a total amount of data consumed by a selectedone of the at least two services provided by the second service providerover the first backhaul connection during a current time period; andT₁is an amount of time remaining in the current time period, measured inunits of time; and when the network device determines the first backhaulconnection is congested, preventing, by the network device, the firstbase station from connecting the mobile device to the core network. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic load on the first backhaulconnection comprises an instantaneous traffic load on the first backhaulconnection.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic load on thefirst backhaul connection comprises an average traffic load on the firstbackhaul connection during the current time period.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the traffic load on the first backhaul connectioncomprises an average traffic load on the first backhaul connectionduring one or more previous time periods.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising, when determining whether the first backhaulconnection is congested, accounting, by the network device, for backhauldata of the first base station and data communicated between non-basestation devices.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first basestation is installed in a building and the first backhaul connectionprovides Internet access to the building.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising, when preventing the first base station fromconnecting the mobile device to the core network permitting, by thenetwork device, a second base station to connect the mobile device tothe core network.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising, prior topermitting the second base station to connect the mobile device to thecore network, determining, by the network device, that a second backhaulconnection between the core network of the first service provider andthe second base station is not congested.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the second backhaul connection is determined to not be congestedwhen L₂ is less than or equal to (D₂−B₂)/T₂, where: L₂is a traffic loadon the second backhaul connection; D₂is a periodic data cap on thesecond backhaul connection; B₂is a total amount of data consumed overthe second backhaul connection during the current time period; and T₂isan amount of time remaining in the current time period, measured inunits of time.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second backhaulconnection is determined to not be congested when L2 is less than orequal to M×S, where: S is a scaling factor; and M is a maximum permittedload on the second backhaul connection.
 11. A system comprising: one ormore network processing devices executing a base station manager, thebase station manager: receiving a connection request from a mobiledevice to allow connection of the mobile device to a core network of afirst service provider through a first base station; determining whetherthe first backhaul connection between the core network of the firstservice provider and the first base station is congested, the firstbackhaul connection determined to be congested when L₁ is greater than(D₁−B₁)/T₁, where: L₁is a traffic load on the first backhaul connectioncommunicated by a second service provider providing at least twoservices; D₁is a periodic data cap imposed by the second serviceprovider on the first backhaul connection; B₁is a total amount of dataconsumed by a selected one of the at least two services provided by thesecond service provider over the first backhaul connection during acurrent time period; and T₁is an amount of time remaining in the currenttime period, measured in units of time; and when the base stationmanager determines the first backhaul connection is congested, the basestation manager prevents the first base station from connecting themobile device to the core network.
 12. The system of claim 11, whereinthe traffic load on the first backhaul connection comprises aninstantaneous traffic load on the first backhaul connection.
 13. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the traffic load on the first backhaulconnection comprises an average traffic load on the first backhaulconnection during the current time period.
 14. The system of claim 11,wherein the traffic load on the first backhaul connection comprises anaverage traffic load on the first backhaul connection during one or moreprevious time periods.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the basestation manager, at the one or more network processing devices, accountsfor backhaul data of the first base station and data communicatedbetween non-base station devices when determining whether the firstbackhaul connection is congested.
 16. The system of claim 11, whereinthe first base station is installed in a building and the first backhaulconnection provides Internet access to the building.
 17. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the base station manager, at the one or more networkprocessing devices, permits a second base station to connect the mobiledevice to the core network when the base station manager prevents thefirst base station from connecting the mobile device to the corenetwork.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the base station manager,at the one or more network processing devices, determines that a secondbackhaul connection between the core network of the first serviceprovider and the second base station is not congested.
 19. The system ofclaim 18, wherein the second backhaul connection is determined to not becongested when L₂ is less than or equal to (D₂−B₂)/T₂, where: L₂is atraffic load on the second backhaul connection; D₂is a periodic data capon the second backhaul connection; B₂is a total amount of data consumedover the second backhaul connection during the current time period; andT₂is an amount of time remaining in the current time period, measured inunits of time.
 20. The system of claim 18, wherein the second backhaulconnection is determined to not be congested when L₂ is less than orequal to M×S, where: S is a scaling factor; and M is a maximum permittedload on the second backhaul connection.
 21. A method comprising:receiving, at a network device, a connection request from a mobiledevice to allow connection of the mobile device to a core network of afirst service provider through a first base station; determining, by thenetwork device, whether a first backhaul connection between the corenetwork of the first service provider and the first base station iscongested, the first backhaul connection determined to be congested whenL₁is greater than M×S, where: L₁is a traffic load on the first backhaulconnection; S is a scaling factor; and M is a maximum permitted load onthe first backhaul connection; and when the network device determinesthe first backhaul connection is congested, preventing, by the networkdevice, the first base station from connecting the mobile device to thecore network.